Benjamin Arnold

it is a thorough and unique learn of German knighthood as a category in its medieval heyday. Arnold attracts on a wealthy array of descriptive element from the lives of person knights, their households, and diverse teams to ascertain knightly customs and practices, the effect of knighthood within the political international of the German Empire, and the curious prestige of such a lot knights as immediately noble and unfree. those unfree knights, argues Arnold, have been specifically specialist warriors in an empire the place violence for political ends prevailed--a harsh truth that dictated the constitution and improvement in their category.